Ireland sees shop sales surge as crisis-hit Spain suffers fall

RETAIL trade slipped in the Eurozone in July, down from a slight increase in June, official Eurostat data revealed yesterday.

The total volume of retail trade fell 0.2 per cent across the 17 euro area countries, having increased by 0.1 per cent in June.

Though this overall picture was fairly flat, it hid a 0.9 per cent rise in non-food volumes, and a 0.9 per cent fall in food, drinks and tobacco sales.

There was also divergence between different countries’ experiences: sales in Ireland climbed 1.7 per cent as it recovers after its short, sharp, austere recession, whereas in crisis-hit Spain volumes dropped off 1.9 per cent.

The generally gloomy picture was highlighted by the yearly figures, which showed overall sales down 1.7 per cent, driven by collapses of 7.6 per cent in Portugal and 7.3 per cent in Spain.